Scientists Report Finding Reliable Way to Teleport Data

Scientists in the Netherlands have moved a step closer to overriding one of Albert Einstein’s most famous objections to the implications of quantum mechanics, which he described as “spooky action at a distance.”

In a paper published on Thursday in the journal Science, physicists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at the Delft University of Technology reported that they were able to reliably teleport information between two quantum bits separated by three meters, or about 10 feet.


Moreover, the scientists are now closer to definitively proving Einstein wrong in his early disbelief in the notion of entanglement, in which particles separated by light-years can still appear to remain connected, with the state of one particle instantaneously affecting the state of another.

They report that they have achieved perfectly accurate teleportation of quantum information over short distances. They are now seeking to repeat their experiment over the distance of more than a kilometer. If they are able to repeatedly show that entanglement works at this distance, it will be a definitive demonstration of the entanglement phenomenon and quantum mechanical theory.

Scientists Report Finding Reliable Way to Teleport Data

Wow!

I know nothing of physics .....but to a mind that lacks the knowledge , this sounds super cool!

Are we a step closer to teleportation?

Or maybe time travel ?

What do you think ATS?

enlighten me !

Humbly

LSH

The article starts off a bit misleading... scientists have achieved quantum entanglement over many kilometers several years ago. What they have achieved here is simply a more reliable method which works much better than the previous method. Einstein was proven wrong about quantum entanglement a long time ago.

a reply to: LightningStrikesHere



Ok, first, as the article clearly states, this is not teleportation in the Star Trek sense. This article instead refers to the usage of an interesting quirk of quantum mechanics, namely, that two particles separated by vast distances, can appear to be linked together in such a way that changes applied to one of them, will be apparent in the other.

This means that data can be sent by entangling two objects together in the manner outlined above, so that the scientist can use the method to send binary signals. Now, over a distance of a few meters this seems utterly over the top, but how about over distances of thousands of miles? How about over distances of millions of miles?

The potential that this quantum entanglement method has, to extend the reach of, and speed of our communications in the future, cannot be understated. Obviously, at this time the apparatus required to perform such a feat is expensive and complicated, not to mention quite large, so do not expect to see a mobile telecom device which uses this method in your lifetime.

However, this method could make communications in and through space more effective, and it could also lead to new methods of recording data from afar, with the right tinkering and know how.

It is very exciting, but this method will not allow matter transportation, only data.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Wow so this could mean we could have real time communication with maybe a ship trillions of miles away?.
Oh and head blown dude amazing description to help the layman.
Cheers.

a reply to: LightningStrikesHere

Well I've been up for about 24 hours now (bad case of insomnia), so perhaps my brain isn't working at full capacity at the moment, but wouldn't instant quantum teleportation of information mean that information could be transferred faster than the speed of light?

If so, then would this suggest that information could be sent backwards in time, since things traveling faster than light speed theoretically end up arriving before they are sent? If so, then could this end up giving someone the ability to read next weeks lotto numbers today?

More realistically.....Even if the information only traveled back in time a fraction of a second, this would revolutionize things like automated stock trading. Today there is a high demand for server location...because as this article states "Like the NYSE, most markets give some trading firms direct fiber optic access into the trading servers. In a fiber optic cable, data (the old ”Buy” and ”Sell” yells of the traders) travel via light. Light can only go so fast (also known as the speed of light). When you want to make a trade faster than your competitor, where you put your server matters, because the speed of light matters."

Even if I'm wrong about the sci-fi time travel angle (again, I've been up for 24 hours...so I have little faith in my brains ability to think straight at the moment) A quantum teleportation of info could cause a massive upset in the stock market for the company who is first to utilize this technology!

Cool man thanks for putting that intro prospective for me! I cant really Math that well so its hard for my brain to grasp the information fully..
However ill remain optimistic about it and who knows maybe it will lead to some serious star trek like stuff
a reply to: TrueBrit

Let me make this clear, they are not claiming to have sent meaningful information across the entangled link, notice they say they have sent "quantum information", which is basically a fancy way of saying they've managed to send completely random data using entanglement. However that is still useful for certain applications, like as the article mentions, cryptography. If they have figured out a way to send structured information across the entangled link they have totally overturned the laws of physics as we understand them, but that's not what the article is saying they did. All it's saying is that they have discovered a more reliable method of sending "quantum information" across the entangled link.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: LightningStrikesHere



Ok, first, as the article clearly states, this is not teleportation in the Star Trek sense. This article instead refers to the usage of an interesting quirk of quantum mechanics, namely, that two particles separated by vast distances, can appear to be linked together in such a way that changes applied to one of them, will be apparent in the other.

This means that data can be sent by entangling two objects together in the manner outlined above, so that the scientist can use the method to send binary signals. Now, over a distance of a few meters this seems utterly over the top, but how about over distances of thousands of miles? How about over distances of millions of miles?

The potential that this quantum entanglement method has, to extend the reach of, and speed of our communications in the future, cannot be understated. Obviously, at this time the apparatus required to perform such a feat is expensive and complicated, not to mention quite large, so do not expect to see a mobile telecom device which uses this method in your lifetime.

However, this method could make communications in and through space more effective, and it could also lead to new methods of recording data from afar, with the right tinkering and know how.

It is very exciting, but this method will not allow matter transportation, only data.

Don't expect to see it in our life time? There's people alive today that saw the size of the first computer, and now we have phones with more power than Apollo missions. If you're under 25 expect to see this in yr life time... After ww3, of course.

Instant communication over limitless distances. Makes you wonder why SETI still insist on searching for radio signals...

a reply to: bhornbuckle75

Even though the information would be sent instantly (faster than light) between the two quantum objects, it will still take time to encode and decode the information that is sent and received, so there would still be a delay.

a reply to: LightningStrikesHere

If the Universe, is actually a Multiverse as scientists are now starting to seriously consider as real, and the Multiverse is actually an artificial holographic 3D projection or some ultra sophisticated construct ...there isn't actually any 'matter' as we think of it..and if we and everything else are actually just data, and they can find a way to reliably teleport data..?

There's a lot of 'ifs', but this stuff is still very much in its infancy.

Maybe one digital day, we will be teleporting ourselves..our digital selves to another Universe or 3D representation of one anyway!

a reply to: bhornbuckle75

First of all, as another poster pointed out, it is not as if the data that has been sent thus far is anything other than random mess. It's sort of like having a television which can only receive signals which appear as static fuzz.

The trick will be learning how to encode useful data for transmission by this method, and when that happens, that will lead to the long distance capabilities that we are so excited about, communications wise. I think it is also worth pointing out that the signal happening in real time is not time travel in the strictest sense. Essentially what this method means, is that the data that exists at point A, rather than being transmitted to point B in the traditional sense, comes into existence at point B immediately, without actually travelling through the intervening space between these two points at all.

Also, it is not as if we can expect to be able to see pocket versions of any resultant technology which comes out of this research in our life times, because we are talking about equipment which has very, VERY intricate, expensive, and complicated components, and which runs on science that is not even fully understood by those running the experiments.

With things like the mobile telephone for example, it was DECADES before the first marriage of a battery pack and a radio in military circles, lead much much later to the creation of the first mobile telephone system. Both radios, and batteries however, had existed for a while before they were first married together. This method of sending signal is so much in its infancy, that a normal message cannot yet be sent, just what amounts to useful static. There is an awful lot of work to do before this method of communication becomes useful to people outside of the rarefied demographic of physicists who can even grasp a trillionth of its potential. After that, it is more than likely that the people with first dibs on practical application of this research will be military users, and the space industry. Even then the technology will require more understanding of its operation than the hand held phones sported by the selfie takers and twitter users that currently partake of mobile telecoms, in the main.

It will also remain a significant weight and size for some time also, again decades, purely because of the power and control systems required...

Look at this...


www.sciencephoto.com...

This image is a picture of just a PART of the physical gear which makes this type of experimentation possible. This is not ending up in anything portable for at least fifty years at the minimum if the current speed of progress is any indicator.

a reply to: LightningStrikesHere

The question is not wether entanglement occurs. We do know that it does, and we already know that its speed is at least 6 orders of magnitudes the speed of light. The true question is how to resolve the EPR paradox. Meaning we don't know how come apparently FTL quantum information transfer doesn't violate causality.

In the OP, the scientist won't actually teleport anything - they'll simply show that entanglement switches the sign of the entangled particle. No biggie, it was already proven years ago.

a reply to: bhornbuckle75

Because, as always, information is not sent faster than the speed of light. Believe me, the headlines would have been bigger. There is a difference between sending data, sending entangled particles and the speed of collapse of the wave function. In essence it is always the same outcome: however interesting an entangled pair is (FTL collapse or not), you will NEVER send information faster than light.

a reply to: Sheesh

Read swannes post. i think you might be off on the speed.

originally posted by: yuppa
a reply to: Sheesh

Read swannes post. i think you might be off on the speed.

Nope. Barring any fundamental shifts in our understanding of physics, you cannot and will not be able to send useful information faster than light using quantum entanglement.

See the "no-communication theorem". These recent results do not in any way invalidate that.

en.wikipedia.org...

originally posted by Lagrimas

Don't expect to see it in our life time? There's people alive today that saw the size of the first computer, and now we have phones with more power than Apollo missions. If you're under 25 expect to see this in yr life time... After ww3, of course.

But smartphones don't violate the laws of physics. Faster-than-light communication does. We won't be seeing it. We already have communication that can travel AT the speed of light, i.e. radio. Quantum communication might make comms more efficient, but it won't make them break the light barrier.


The no-communication theorem is actually pretty interesting the more you look at it. It's almost spooky how the universe seems to "conspire" to prevent faster-than-light communication, however you set up the experiment. Kind of like a little cosmic joke

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: LightningStrikesHere

The question is not wether entanglement occurs. We do know that it does, and we already know that its speed is at least 6 orders of magnitudes the speed of light. The true question is how to resolve the EPR paradox. Meaning we don't know how come apparently FTL quantum information transfer doesn't violate causality.

In the OP, the scientist won't actually teleport anything - they'll simply show that entanglement switches the sign of the entangled particle. No biggie, it was already proven years ago.

Yeah.......I am so thankful for your reply...

But with all due respect I have no idea what your talking about kind sir. Lol

I am only an expert in religion and a few other things.. In other words

I can't. Really math that well

Just saying

a reply to: LightningStrikesHere

Oh, it's really easy. Please allow me to explain.

In quantum physics, a particle's state is never fully known. Because you can't observe a particle without disturbing it (Heisenberg's uncertainty principle), it is more accurate, in quantum model, to view this particle as wave functions - a mathematical model representing the probability of the properties of the particle. The particle is kind of, you know, smudged out, blurred on a wave-like fashion.

Observing the particle will collapse this wave function, since all un-observed probabilities would drop to zero.

If two particles share the same properties (are entangled), then they both can be described with only one wave function.

But this means that if you collapse one particle's wave function by observing it, you'll instantaneously collapse the other particle's wave function too (since the same model was used for both particles) - no matter where the other particle is located. It could be at the end of the Universe, it won't matter: it'll still collapse, even if you never observed it.

Einstein was perplexed by this, and went on to argue against it, creating the EPR paradox argument (the "E" in "EPR" stands for "Einstein"), in which he stated that entanglement contradicted his postulate that nothing can go faster than the speed of light.

Several options exist to resolve Einstein's EPR paradox, but so far I didn't see a general agreement on which was the more observations-friendly.

Tesla you mean?

a reply to: swanne

But this means that if you collapse one particle's wave function by observing it, you'll instantaneously collapse the other particle's wave function too (since the same model was used for both particles) - no matter where the other particle is located. It could be at the end of the Universe, it won't matter: it'll still collapse, even if you never observed it.

This is true. The flaw is that you cannot control the state that it collapses into. All you are doing is simultaneously revealing a random state. No useful information is gained, and it cannot be used to send a "communication".